Review: Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews

I love this series. Each book builds on the previous installment, dragging the reader deeper into the world of post Shift Atlanta. The Pack, Kate, the People, and even the Order – after seven volumes of adventures with these characters, you can’t help but get caught up in their lives, and sadly, sometimes their deaths. I have my favorites, and I approach each new book with the same apprehension. Will one of my favorites give up their life so Kate and Curran can live to fight another day?

Magic Breaks is the book we have all been waiting for. Kate finally has her audience with Roland, but it isn’t quite the bloodbath I was expecting. It was better. Kate uses her brains, her brawn, and her magic abilities to prove that she’s both Roland’s daughter and that she will be a formidable opponent should the Builder decide to make good on his threats and destroy the Pack.

But! It’s Hugh that’s the royal pain in the butt here. I have to say that I hate the guy. Straight up. While Voron raised both Hugh and Kate, he seriously messed up Hugh’s already f’d up mind. Kate somehow survived the harrowing experience with her humanity and morals intact. She is still a good person, despite the things Voron made her do. She wants to protect her loved ones, and she will be their shield, which puts her in direct conflict with Curran. He wants to protect Kate. She wants to protect him. This occasionally leads to a knock-down, drag out fight between the two of them.

Hugh, on the other hand, loves chaos. He has set his sights on Kate, and he can’t accept her rejection. So what’s a really really bad guy to do to get a girl’s attention? He transports her away to a water filled cave, in an unknown location, with only Ghastek for company. And he leaves her there. What a dick. Seriously. I hate this guy.

I would have been more than happy if Magic Breaks had ended the series. It is easily the best book to date, the action is unrelenting, all of my questions are answered, and it ends on an upbeat note. I don’t see how the next book can top it. I’m afraid it will disappoint me, after the magic of this one. For two glorious days, I was caught up in Kate’s life, as she is finally forced to confront the boogey man from her nightmares – her father. The specter of this meeting has haunted her for her entire life. She has kept herself apart from other people, making no friends, trusting no one, until she met Curran and the force of his personality catches hold of her and refuses to let go. Her connections with Curran, Julie, Derek, Andrea, and all of the other people she finally allowed herself to befriend, made her stronger. Allowed her to walk away from her nightmare of meeting her father, not only alive, but triumphant. What a great book.

If you haven’t started reading the series, what’s stopping you? Now is a great time to catch up, because the tenth and final volume in the Kate Daniels’ series is due early 2018. Run to your local library and borrow, borrow, borrow! The series is so popular you will probably have to put a hold on some volumes, so go! Now! I broke down and purchased Magic Shifts, because I didn’t want to wait!

Grade: 5 stars

Review copy borrowed from my local library

About the book:

No matter how much the paranormal politics of Atlanta change, one thing always remains the same: if there’s trouble, Kate Daniels will be in the middle of it…As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers. Since Kate’s connection to Roland has come out into the open, no one is safe—especially those closest to Kate.As Roland’s long shadow looms ever nearer, Kate is called to attend the Conclave, a gathering of the leaders from the various supernatural factions in Atlanta. When one of the Masters of the Dead is found murdered there, apparently at the hands of a shapeshifter, Kate is given only twenty-four hours to hunt down the killer. And this time, if she fails, she’ll find herself embroiled in a war which could destroy everything she holds dear…